Genital warts – risk of infection

Risk of infection
How high is the risk of being infected and how do you catch a condyloma infection? The simple answer is that genital warts are spread via skin-to-skin contact. However, there are several factors to take into consideration that make the answer slightly more complicated.

The best way to avoid infecting others is to treat genital warts soon as possible. If you treat genital warts and help your body overcome the HPV-infection, the risk of infecting others is very slim. There are a number of treatment options, but medicines for genital warts are in most cases a simple and effective method. You should also try to avoid sexual contact until the HPV-infection is fully healed.

Infection through indirect or direct contact
Condyloma is transmitted via contact with areas on the skin which are infected with HPV strains that cause condyloma. The virus primarily affects areas on and around the genitals and in some cases areas around the anal, which means that sexual contact is the most common cause of infection. All contact does not lead to infection and there are not always any symptoms following an infection. Indirect contact may in some cases lead to an infection, but the risk is much lower than in the case of direct contact. The highest risk of infection from indirect contact comes from contact with underwear and towels.

High risk of infection
The risk of infection varies between individuals. Since condyloma is caused by a virus, the risk of infection largely depends on the strength of your immune system. Some people have a stronger immune system, or a stronger resistance against the strains of HPV that cause genital warts. If your immune system is weak, the risk of infection is high, and some people can have a weaker resistance against condyloma. However, HPV strains are generally more potent than other wart viruses, and therefore the risk of infection is considered high. A common estimate is that the risk of infection in case of skin-to-skin contact lies between 70-90 %.

Symptoms after infection
The condyloma virus is insidious since it does not always cause any symptoms. Not all who carry a condyloma infection develop visible symptoms, but they can still pass the infection on to other people. This leads to a large number of carriers who are unaware of the risk of transmitting the disease to others. It is estimated that the number of symptomless carriers is as large as the number of infected people with visible symptoms.

Condyloma, also known as genital warts, is one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases. However, it seldom leads to any serious problems other than cosmetic inconveniences. The infection usually goes away by itself, but it may take a long time. It usually takes more than a year for the body to fully recover.